Former Providence mayor and talk show host Vincent “Buddy” Cianci will be visiting Barnes & Noble to talk about and sign copies of his book, “POLITICS AND PASTA,” Tuesday, July 24 at 7 p.m. at the Warwick Centre location, 1350B Bald Hill Road.

Rogue? Or a tough, no-nonsense politician who got things done? Guy who pushed the envelope? Or a mayor who pushed his dying city to reach for the stars? There were those who loved Buddy Cianci and those who loathed him.

A lot has been written about Buddy – the good and the bad – but never before has it been written by Buddy. Along with co-writer David Fisher, Cianci pens a memorable, one-of-a-kind political memoir that will have readers laughing out loud and pounding their fists cheering for Buddy to take the fight to his adversaries yet again with “POLITICS AND PASTA: How I Prosecuted Mobsters, Rebuilt a Dying City, Dined with Sinatra, Spent Five Years in a Federally Funded Gated Community, and Lived to Tell the Tale.”

Cianci is colorful. He was the subject of a best-selling book, an Emmy Award-winning documentary and the creator of Mayor’s Own Marinara sauce. Since first being elected mayor in 1975 – serving until 1984 – Buddy Cianci became the epitome of the underdog beating the odds. Including his second stint as mayor, 1991-2002, Cianci was the longest serving mayor in Providence history and one of the longest serving “big city” mayors in U.S. history with over 21 years under his belt. During his time in power, he took a failing old New England city that had seen industry head out of town for years and turned it into a model of urban renewal, both economically and artistically. To do so, he had to use the Cianci charm mixed with equal doses of the Cianci aggressiveness. In “POLITICS AND PASTA,” he explains all the back room deals and publicity catastrophes, the election victories and defeats, the agonizing feeling of having his plans squelched as well as the victories, all to show how things really happen in City Hall.

Cianci also doesn’t shy away about explaining why he left the mayor’s office the first time, although he denies the charge of assaulting his wife’s lover with a fireplace log. Cianci also goes into details about the RICO conviction that ended his political career. Although all other charges were dismissed, the RICO charge (running a corrupt criminal enterprise) forced him out and led him to spend – as Buddy humorously puts it – “the next five years in a federally funded gated community.”

After all he accomplished as a hugely popular and successful mayor, Cianci now has one of the most popular radio talk shows in the Northeast on WPRO-AM in Providence. “POLITICS AND PASTA” is full of surprising stories and outrageous anecdotes, a true one-of-a-kind memoir by a master of the political game. Take a little bit of La Guardia, a dose of Daley, and throw in some of Boston’s Mayor Curley, shake, and you have Vincent “Buddy” Cianci – master politician, master storyteller.